


Contingency

by Lunarcane



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Blood Magic, Death Eaters, F/F, F/M, M/M, Mental Anguish, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Mental Institutions, Minor Character Death, Original Character Death(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-01
Updated: 2015-06-01
Packaged: 2018-04-02 08:27:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4053307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarcane/pseuds/Lunarcane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wherein Voldemort made a plan in the unlikely event of his death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Contingency

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: Many characters die, depression triggers, grief triggers, etc. Read at your own discretion. 
> 
> Hi there, someone wrote a story that inspired me to write this. I apologize in advance for all of the death and sadness. Betas needed.

HERMIONE  
Bright purple light came slashing through the air, her arm jerked upward and her wand swished to block it just as it reached her. She felt another spell from behind her and tried to twist to defend herself but it caught her on the shoulder and bright flames burst into being. Her hair started to singe and the flames clung to her skin, she hastily cast a dampening spell and was able to suppress the fire and shoot her own hex in return to the sender. The sender screamed as he felt a piercing pain in his arm and Hermione almost rejoiced before having to lunge sideways to dodge spells from another two Death Eaters who had seen an opening. Her side ached from the stretch but she wrenched around anyway to take aim. Everything was chaos in front of Hogwarts.

After Harry had seen the memories that the dying Snape had given to him, he had been stubbornly silent. He had paced and pulled at his hair, and gravitated toward Hermione and Ron several times with a desperate, sad expression before shaking his head and returning to his thoughts. He had left, he had died, and then he had lived again. 

Harry was in the middle of it all now, battling Voldemort, or well, attempting to. From what little glimpses she caught of the two, Hermione could see that Voldemort was mostly taunting him, torturing him, not truly putting his all into fighting. Which is just as well, Hermione thought, as Voldemort would likely slaughter Harry if it weren’t for the rest of the Order. She shuddered as she cast another hex at a Death Eater and briefly looked over to Harry again. Kingsley and Remus were by Harry’s side, fighting ferociously to keep Harry safe and to keep Voldemort from fixating his efforts.

The look cost her. A spell caught her left shoulder and she gasped in pain as a cut opened up and her blood spattered from the wound. She then turned to her opponent and started casting as many spells as she could without stopping, snapping her arm with precision. She was doing well until someone bumped into her back, she whirled around and nearly cursed Seamus before realizing who it was and then redirected her spell to the Death Eater he was fighting.

“Thanks ‘mione.” Seamus flashed her a grin before joining Dean and Terry in a separate fight. Hermione then noticed that she was in a small gap between all the people fighting. It was almost a relief as her wounds were throbbing and piercing. There were so many people. Bizarrely she was reminded of a dance club before noticing that her gap was closing up quickly as people dodged, cast, ran, fell down in agony or in death.

She spotted red hair, Ron’s, not too far away and decided to join him. She could see his wan expression but she couldn’t stop and think about it herself. If she thought too much about Fred and… Merlin, Lavender. Hermione’s mind briefly flashed back to the still body that she had seen getting ravaged… eaten by Fenrir. She shook her head to clear it and started breaking into the fray, casting, casting, casting, ducking, jumping to the side, being pushed to the ground and nearly trampled, rolling out of the way and making her way back up, casting, casting, casting. She had nearly made it to Ron when she felt something distinct.

A moment of stillness seemed to overcome the entire battle as hundreds of witches and wizards felt an intense surge of magic and, feeling as if everything was moving very slowly, Hermione looked over to Harry, his wand arm outstretched, a look of pure determination on his face, green eyes squinting and teeth bared, and saw Voldemort falling backward with a death stricken face, she felt a wave of relief and hysteric joy before-

Shrieking. Bodies writhing, screaming, not just the Death Eaters, everyone was wailing in agony. She herself had felt a small flash of fire burning through her veins before it died down and she was left stumbling around as bodies knocked into her and fell over and screamed and screamed and screamed, her ears were throbbing and she was crying and she was just trying to make it to Ron but Ron was now on the ground and thrashing wildly, she looked up to see- to see something that would make sense but all she could see were those in pain and a few, who like her, were clutching their ears or clutching their friends and trying to make everything STOP.

A breath of wind blew coolly into the battlefield and gradually the screams died down. A moment of ringing silence as Hermione stared across the field that was near black clad in felled bodies. There were a couple people standing up like her, dazed and confused. 

She recognized Justin Finch-Fletchley standing not too far from her, his face reflecting her fear and then his face blank as a sudden flash of green light lit up from behind him. Hermione nearly screamed as she saw him fall forward and a Death Eater who was not on the ground came awkwardly forward.

She brought up her wand shakily to duel him, her fingers having trouble closing in a grip, but then noticed that she and the few other people who had not fallen were vastly outnumbered by the unfallen Death Eaters. The one who had killed Justin was breathing heavily and his movements were uncertain, jerky.

“He’s dead! Bloody fuck, I can’t believe he’s dead.” A croaking voice came from a panicked Death Eater who was standing over Voldemort’s body. Hermione used this distraction to kneel and crawl over to Ron. The Death Eaters all apparated to where the speaker stood. Hermione started, they were still on Hogwarts’ grounds, how could they apparate? One of the Death Eaters began wailing, Hermione couldn’t see who but could guess. She turned back to Ron. Hermione reached out her shivering hand and touched Ron’s still face briefly before pulling back and looking away. Mrs. Weasley was lying beside him as was Neville and Luna. She could hardly breathe, her lungs hurt. She couldn’t look at Ron anymore and instead looked at Mrs. Weasley’s still unbreathing body. Dead. All of them. Dead. She couldn’t check Ron. She just couldn’t. She wanted him to be breathing, just unconscious, to blearily wake up and gripe about his pains to her. To hold her hand and to tell her that he’s alright just bloody sore. Her body was shivering as she struggled to force herself to look at Ron. He was unmoving, eyes closed, was he breathing? She leaned down to check-

“What do we do, ‘trix? What do we do?! He’s dead! He’s actually dead!” A Death Eater yelled.

“Shut it. You know exactly what we’re to do, Rosier, what he ordered us to do. Ohhh, my Lord.” Bellatrix cried, her face was wet with tears and a patch of her black hair missing, strands still entangled around her long fingers. Hermione watched and the few others standing around were frozen with their wands out, one though, was holding a body while rocking back and forth, sobbing. Hermione slowly bent down and whispered a few spells, her wand tip glowed and writing appeared on Ron's arm. Bellatrix had turned her grieving gaze from Voldemort, past all of the others, and on to Hermione. “Kill the mudbloods.”

Hermione snapped from her frozen position and ran toward the other closest non-Death Eater person, grabbed her hand then apparated to another person, grabbed his hand, then apparated to another person and attempted to grab him as well but he died in a flash of green just as he reached out to grab on to Hermione. Hermione looked around and noticed others following her lead, cast one last glance toward where Ron lay, then apparated away.  
They arrived in muggle London in an alleyway behind a dumpster. Hermione turned to her two companions and looked at who she had managed to grab. Penelope Clearwater was shaking visibly and staring down through her long blonde hair in an expression of horror and disengagement, she was bleeding a little from a gash on her leg but otherwise seemed fine.

The other man was someone Hermione didn’t know but judging from his robes was an Auror. He was less fortunate than Penelope and was holding a clearly broken arm to his chest. He was a bald man who looked to be in his forties, Caucasian, bit short, but very well-muscled. His bright brown eyes were taking in their surroundings, trying to place exactly where they were. Like Hermione, he couldn’t think about what had just happened, not yet.

“London, yeah?” The man asked her and she nodded. She thought back to the first time she had apparated Ron and Harry here but then shook her head and went to look around the sidewalk where the muggles were going about their lives in the warm evening. A loud cracking sound. Hermione tensed and turned back to grab Penelope’s hand as the Auror followed closely behind. They joined the crowd of muggles walking down the sidewalk, gathering a few strange and concerned looks but mostly going unnoticed they managed to keep a steady pace. 

Hermione’s feet were sore, her shoulder was burnt from earlier, she could feel the start of pain shooting up and down her back, but she kept pushing forward. Her mind was blank, no, focussed on getting somewhere. 

“Oi, watch it!” A loud shout from behind alerted her. She briefly looked and saw a couple of black clad figures pushing their way through the crowd toward them. She turned sharply into another alley way and grabbed both of her companion’s hands to apparate. Just as they were about to leave, a hand grabbed Hermione’s bad shoulder. She gasped and felt the wrenching twist of apparition before they landed in a forest. The Auror, despite his arm, had his wand out and was pointing it at the person attached to Hermione. Penelope was frozen but then a look flickered through her eyes. 

“Wait.” She said. “Mary?! Mary, it’s me, Penelope.” The girl behind Hermione shifted then let go of her shoulder and rushed to hug her friend. A short girl, the top of her head barely brushed Penelope’s chin as they clung to each other. She also had blonde hair but it was short and spiky. 

“Another student?” Hermione asked, her voice hoarse. Penelope nodded. Hermione exchanged a look with the Auror before they heard yet another loud crack of apparition. Whipping around, they only saw the black for a moment before taking each other’s hands again and apparating. This time the Auror was leading them. 

They arrived in London again, another alleyway. The Auror peeked out into the crowd then came back.

“Listen,” he had a husky voice, “I think they’re tracking our magic. There’s a bus over there. Get on it. Leave somewhere, anywhere you can think of that’s safe but muggle. Change your appearance if you can. I’m going to check up on a few places for other Aurors, there seemed to be only two of them following us. Don’t split up though, you’re strongest together. If you can, meet me at the Order headquarters. Do you know where that is?” Hermione nodded. “Good. Now go.”

Hermione dragged Mary and Penelope toward the bus station hearing, and confirming the Auror’s thought, the crack of the Death Eaters again. The bus was just pulling up in a moment of incredible luck, Hermione and Mary got on the bus and Penelope was just setting her foot on the bottom step when a flash of green claimed her. 

“NO!” Mary rushed to Penelope and Hermione tried to pull her back but another flash of green caused Mary to collapse on top of her friend’s still body. 

“SOMEBODY ‘AS A BLOODY GUN!” Someone on the bus yelled, not fully understanding what he was seeing. Hermione ran to the end of the bus, not wanting to be trapped and crouched next to a seat near the other door. The bus driver, meanwhile, had immediately closed the door despite people still wanting to get on and started to drive off while cursing and shaking. 

A fireball exploded on the side of the bus and the inhabitants screamed, some stood, some crouched down like Hermione, others were running about all whilst the bus driver was screaming for them to sit down and Hermione belatedly remember that she had a dagger stashed in her purse. Reaching into it she grabbed the handle and pulled it out and kept it low and near her side. 

Another fireball exploded on the back of the bus but this time the windows cracked and one broke. More shrieks, more panicking, then she spotted a Death Eater clinging onto the broken window ledge, blood dripping from her hand from the broken glass. Hermione darted forward and felt numb as she swung her dagger at the Death Eater’s throat. The Death Eater gurgled then fell and a few muggles beside her screamed and the bus suddenly stopped. Hermione whirled to the front of the bus as the driver was honking and yelling about some idiot who had apparently crashed his bus in front of them. It was a purple triple decker bus… Hermione got to the front.

“I want off.” She said quietly, words were becoming so difficult.

“Are you bloody nuts?!” The driver slammed his hands on the steering wheel. Hermione held her dagger up to him.

“I want off.” She said again as he gaped at her then scrambled for the lever that opened the door. Getting off, she did a quick check for the other Death Eater. No sign yet. She looked at her surroundings, Islington, she noticed. Grimmauld wasn’t too far away. She thanked the Auror in her head as she headed down the right streets. It was growing dark.

When she reached the house she paused before going in. The door was wide open. The sounds of frantic searching and destruction was coming from the inside. Feeling nausea rise in her throat, she turned from the house and ran back. 

She hailed a cab. When this driver asked her where she wanted to go but not before giving her a look of concern for her shoulder, she hesitated. 

“Worthing.” She finally said as she remembered something Harry had once told her about a hut on a rock. It wasn’t ideal but it was isolated and she couldn’t think of anywhere else at the moment. Her mind was so full of things she couldn’t think about that she started picking at her burn in an effort to distract herself. It hurt, it was pulsing with heat. She had potions in her purse but she would wait. 

It was two hours to get to Worthing. All the while, the driver made up for the lack of conversation by turning on the radio. 

“-collapses all over the UK as people fall to a mysterious illness causing intense agony and possible death. No word from officials on the cause yet-“

Hermione was trembling again. The more she listened to the radio, the more she had to keep her emotions in, her chest was in so much pain. When they finally reached Worthing, she gave the driver cab fare, then bolted toward the pier. 

Apparently the hut where Harry had stayed so many years ago had been washed away by a storm but there was a hotel. Ardington. Where she went and rented a room, writing into a small book how much she had spent on that and the cab, she ignored the worries of the people around her, she ignored the suggestion of a doctor or hospital, she walked into her room, put her dagger in the sink, purse on the bed, and laid down on the floor. 

Stillness as the day rushed back to her mind and she saw their faces. A silent encompassing wail released itself and she finally cried. She cried and sputtered and rocked back and forth and beat her chest with her fists and pulled at her hair and sobbed and rocked back and forth and back and forth.

“R-R-Ro-o-on. Ha-Harry.” She sobbed and pulled at her feet then fell forward and lay on the ground heaving for breath and nearly choking on her tears. She rolled her head from side to side then banged it on the ground and pulled at the carpeting. “Mommy! D-Daddy!” She wanted to reach for the phone, to call them even knowing they wouldn’t remember her, but she could barely get up let alone move to the other side of the room. She wheezed and wanted so badly to scream. She opened her mouth wide and let a raspy sound force its way out, she then choked again then vomited. She continued crying for hours, rolled away from her puke, until she finally passed out. 

 

HARRY  
Harry woke up.


End file.
